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User blog:Morgane of the Mists/Lore (Pt. 1)
Firstly, I apologize for my English. It is not my first language. Secondly, with the recent release of Kakuyoku no Kizuna (鶴翼の絆), an official doujin light-novel, I believe it warrants a trip here overseas to visit our gaikokujin brother and sister in arms. I have been involved in fan translations of various works over the years, and Kantai Collection's world design is slowly maturing into something quite rich beautiful. The compiled information below is a collaborative work between Chinese and Japanese admirals, and we would like to be collectively credited to this blog. For now, I discuss only Kakuyoku no Kizuna. I will provide page numbers when appropriate as references, and update the lore piecemeal. If time and energy permits (being a medical student is unfortunately time-consuming), I may attempt to translate the light novel - I'm sure Kadokawa wouldn't mind terribly much, since I highly doubt it will become localized. The protagonist of the light novel is Zuikaku. She was obtained by the admiral (unnamed) in a gambling attempt in order to clear 2-4 (more on this later - 2-4 refers to an actual naval war zone in this setting). Their adventures begin there. The light novel is set to finish sometimes later this year, and a lot was revealed about the world design. The world of KanColle takes place in an alternate earth, similar to that of Arpeggio of Blue Steel. While real-world locations loosely correspond to that of KanColle's world, it is safe to assume that it is a parallel universe. In other words, Japan doesn't really exist, WWII never happened here, and the admiral protagonist is one of unknown nationality. He freely admits that he knows nothing about WWII, as the only thing he knows are what the kanmusu themselves tell him. Here, the world's seas are completely taken over by the abyssal fleet. Much like their Arpeggio counterpart, they exist in hilariously large numbers, destroying much of the world's conventional navy via sheer numbers. The abyssal fleet attacks indiscriminately, and feeds voraciously on fallen sailors in the water(Pg. 29). At the point where you (dear reader, player of KanColle) or the admiral comes in, the world is desperate. If the main abyssal fleet makes their way to shore or on land, it'll be the end of civilization. The conventional navies of the civilized world are holding these monsters off at their local seashores. However, small-scaled land invasions already occur on a somewhat frequent basis. When Zuikaku asked about air resupply, the admiral explains air transport of resources is impossible. Island nations are being starved into submission one by one, as the abyssal fleet have learned to target anything that is large in size or is congregated. Technologically, however, the world is reasonably high tech. Air travel remains reasonably uninterrupted (Pg. 26) In order to combat these abyssal monsters, the admiral is supported by the world council (a S.H.I.E.L.D equivalent organization by my personal guess. It is something that supports the admiral by sending it resources, supplies, and occasionally tech upgrades. Presumably a number of countries participate, though given the culture, the story's admiral is at least Japanese-inspired.), and has a hidden naval district (chinjufu) cleverly disguised as a hotel. Yes, to the general public, the admiral is known as simply the head manager of a very fancy hotel by the seashore (Pg. 23). This idea of a hidden base is not uncommon in Asian media as a whole, but it's worth mentioning that he and the kanmusu literally runs a luxury Japanese styled hotel. * The admiral doesn't actually own the hotel. It is lent to him by the "powers that be". Lots of cute slice-of-daily-life episodes aside, many of the kanmusu, when they aren't out fighting or resting, work as regular staff at the hotel. Tatsuta, in particular, appears to be a cook of legendary skill. (Chapter 1) A ship girl is summoned using positive "spirit energy" (霊力) alongside a set number of resources. This explains how they're constructed in-game. Kanmusu themselves fall somewhere between weapon and person, as the admiral comments offhandedly (Pg. 35). Fans across the communities have linked their likeness to that of strike witches, but I personally think it's a bit different. I have listed some pertinent points below and will update more as time allows. * A ship girl, by definition, are ships that has sunk in major or significant sea battles. For every ship girl that exists, a number of abyssal fleet girls also exist. The duality is much like yin and yang, though it is clear that the balance has been disrupted. (Pg. 85) * Ship girls are born as "guardians of humanity." They are theorized to be the best weapon against the abyssal fleet. (Pg. 37) ** Given Kadokawa's relatively non-right wing bent, some fans have theorized that the abyssal fleet is partly motivated by the fanatical subset of the IJN. In other words, the bloodthirsty, racist, or destructive ideologies play at least a part in the formation of the abyssal fleet. Think of how many kamikaze pilots, kaiten helmsmen, and others died in WWII, and I personally think this is not so far a stretch. * Ship girls retain most of their memories prior to sinking. Zuikaku was able to instantly recognize her sister, for instance, purely by instinct. Zuikaku also remembers Japan, even though Japan doesn't exist in this setting (Pg. 35). ** It is not clear how this memory is actually retained, and how, if any, would this affect their personalities. Some fans have theorized it is a collective unconscious of the commanding officer, the crew, and the actions performed during war. Other fans theorize that it's a poorly written plothole that'll be discussed at a later chapter. * The ship girls are girls because ships have a "female soul". (Pg. 79) ** Zuikaku expresses some degree of surprise at the fact that she's actually a human girl now. It is clear that even as a ship, she already had human-like wishes. One of her first actions was attempting to pet the hotel's cat. It was something she had seen her sailors do around her deck, but never had a chance to try herself. (Pg. 16) * The ship girls aren't welded to their equipment. In fact, quite the opposite. If they take off their equipment (changing equipment or scrapping, game mechanic), they resemble normal girls. In fact, when they go out shopping for foodstuffs and other things, they do actually take their equipment off (Pg. 75, 77). ** However, the admiral thinks the girls look super hot with their equipment on, and prefers them with their equipments equipped in the chinjufu (Naval district). (Pg. 75) * Kanmusu equipment is best described as magitek. Powered by the same type of "spirit energy" as described above, many of them are capable of doing some sort of magical/spiritual damage (more on this in another post), which explains why they're very effective against the abyssal fleet. * Kanmusu are both normal girls in the sense that they need to eat real, human food (Way too many places to source) and need to be resupplied. The resupplying is primarily to replenish their "spirit energy", which consumes actual resources. * Kanmusu has uh, functional parts. The admiral of the light novel IS a perv and regularly engages the girls in both "night battle" and "close intimate contact/maneuvers." You can figure out what this means. ** Just so we don't get the completely wrong idea about the admiral. He is a perv, but he also cares quite deeply for the ship girls. He mentions explicitly that he would prefer for them to never have to fight, and live as normal girls. However, the world needs them now, and it is with great reluctance that he sends them out to fight. ** Worth mentioning, there's no protection like we have in the game. It is heavily implied throughout that most ship girls die in their first sortie. Getting oneshotted by the abyssal fleet appears to be extremely common. Category:Blog posts